There was a HUGE Thunderstorm last night that rolled through here about the time I was tumbling into bed. I LOVE going to sleep to the sounds of thunder.. it’s topped only by waking up to thunder. The closer it gets the smaller I feel. Earth sure can knock you down to size! I thought about last night’s thunderstorm when I read this:

Psalm 148: 7 Praise the LORD from the earth,
you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,8 lightning and hail, snow and clouds,
stormy winds that do his bidding,9 you mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars,10 wild animals and all cattle,
small creatures and flying birds,11 kings of the earth and all nations,
you princes and all rulers on earth,12 young men and women,
old men and children.

I’m homesick, God, for your salvation;
I love it when you show yourself!
Invigorate my soul so I can praise you well,
use your decrees to put iron in my soul.
And should I wander off like a lost sheep—seek me!
I’ll recognize the sound of your voice.

If you watch an action packed movie you’re going to want to see the bad guy get what he’s got coming to in the end right? That’s what today’s LONG reading reminded me of. It’s sort of a classic element to story telling, we as humans sure do like it when good guys triumph and the bad guys die a spectacular death OR at the very least are humiliated into shame. BUT is this reality? Who in our lives are truly “bad” or “wicked?” I know they are out there, one needs only to turn on the evening news to see the wicked side of humanity. but I don’t come into contact with them often.. and therefore have a tough time praying to God to completely destroy the wicked and cause their offspring to perish.

Who has hurt me the most this year? Someone I loved with a lot depth for a large chunk of my life.. but he is not a bad person and FAR from wicked. So I don’t feel inclined to wish ill upon him even in my anger. I will not employ God to give him what he’s got coming to him. I don’t know, I just struggle with the anger and the vengeance in these Psalms. I see thousands of years of Christians and Israelites reading these and thinking, “Yeah, I’m the good guy and they are the bad guy and with God’s help vengeance will be mine!” Salvation is for everyone and these Psalms even say that… but who is wicked and who is not and who gets to determine that?

You know me inside and out,
you know every bone in my body;
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
The days of my life all prepared
before I’d even lived one day.

Have you ever created something? it could be made out of wood or fabric or paints… but when you sat down you had some kind of plan right? I wonder how that works with God… because much like our chosen mediums sometimes plans don’t work out the way we intended.. Sometimes the wood will split, sometimes the fabric will pull or fray, sometimes the paints will have a mind of their own. We can accept beforehand that our project might not work out, or might take turns we did not anticipate but we as humans can’t plan for everything. The risk of failing at a task goes along with picking up the task to begin with. Sometimes a good plan can also be overshadowed by unexpected challenges turning a project into something much better than we initially dreamed up.

I think it’s different for God. I think he DOES know what is going to happen. He is the Master Creator. Psalm 145:17 says this:

Everything God does is right— the trademark on all his works is love.

Lord I struggle with this now… I DO feel your love and protection and healing but I still question, struggle and ask the unanswerable question: Why? If You knew what was to come in my life, in my marriage why then call me to love a man who can not love me? Why lead us to adopt a child if you knew the family she would join would crumble apart so soon afterwards? You knew… and you know my future as well. Funny thing is even though I am experiencing a great deal of hurt, and you knew that I would, I still feel peace knowing my future, my life, my path is in your hands.

Psalm 110 is, I think, a unnerving prophesy… was David known as a Prophet? I didn’t get that feeling but as each of these Patriarchs enter into their old age there certainly seems to be a tendency to predict that which has yet to come. Verse 4 is the key to why I think Psalm 110 is prophetic in nature:

“The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”

IT’S OFFICIAL Erika has completely gone bonkers!! Here me out… Melchizedek made a small cameo appearance back in Genesis when we were talking about Abraham. kind of unnoteworthy event, SO WHY would all of a sudden David bring this guy up? Lets doo a little search for Melchizedek throughout the Entire bible and see what comes up… (for those of you who need a little help click on the highlighted name Melchizedek, I did the hard work for you)

Hebrews mentions the dude again and suddenly we start to get a more complete picture of what David is trying to talk about. David could be talking about Jesus… lets reread Psalm 110 and see what he’s saying:

Psalm 110

“Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies
a footstool for your feet.”

2 The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying,
“Rule in the midst of your enemies!”3 Your troops will be willing
on your day of battle.
Arrayed in holy splendor,
your young men will come to you
like dew from the morning’s womb.[d]

4 The LORD has sworn
and will not change his mind:
“You are a priest forever,
in the order of Melchizedek.”

5 The Lord is at your right hand[e];
he will crush kings on the day of his wrath.6 He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead
and crushing the rulers of the whole earth.7 He will drink from a brook along the way,[f]
and so he will lift his head high.